By Dipo Olowookere
The stock market in Nigeria marginally appreciated by 0.01 per cent on Thursday as the latest sets of results have dampened their spirits.
On Wednesday, GTBank released its first-quarter earnings and the numbers were not encouraging and this affected the mood of investors at the market yesterday.
In fact, this affected most sectors of the market, especially banking, which had been closing green in the past trading sessions, but on Thursday, it depleted by 0.04 per cent.
The insurance counter lost 0.40 per cent, the consumer goods space depreciated by 0.01 per cent, while the energy sector closed 0.21 per cent higher, with the industrial goods sector closing flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) slightly moved up by 3.46 points to 39,131.80 points from 39,128.34 points, while the market capitalisation managed to rise by N2 billion to N20.480 trillion from N20.478 trillion.
Business Post reports that during the session, a total of 228.1 million shares worth N2.6 billion were traded in 3,656 deals compared with the 239.2 million stocks worth N1.7 billion transacted in 3,746 deals on Wednesday.
Unlike the earlier day, GTBank was the most active stock with the sale of 37.3 million units valued at N1.2 billion, with Zenith Bank trailing for selling 28.8 million units worth N635.3 million.
FBN Holdings transacted 22.3 million shares for N164.9 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 17.6 million stocks for N39.0 million, while UBA traded 15.1 million equities valued at N109.6 million.
The market breadth was positive yesterday as there were 17 price gainers and 15 price losers when trading activities were halted for the day at 2:30pm.
Cutix topped the gainers’ chart after its equity price rose by 7.00 per cent to N2.14, while PZ Cussons gained 6.93 per cent to trade at N5.40.
Linkage Assurance appreciated by 5.00 per cent to 84 kobo, Courtville improved by 4.35 per cent to 24 kobo, while Oando rose by 3.96 per cent to N3.15.
On the losers’ side, Eko Corporation was on top with a price depreciation of 10.00 per cent to finish at N5.40, while Sunu Assurances trailed with a loss of 9.09 per cent to sell for 60 kobo.
Honeywell Flour lost 8.45 per cent to trade at N1.30, Sovereign Trust Insurance went down by 8.00 per cent to 23 kobo, while Unity Bank deflated by 6.78 per cent to 55 kobo.
